A Short Story
by The Wolf That Got Away
Summary: Two insectoid aliens wanted to plant a bonsai on their colony planet.


**Author's Note : For the colony planet's description, I am using the planetary features available in the **_**Megacorp's **_**DLC setting. Wish the DLC could feature more descriptions about these new types of environment and what district they can contribute to, but hey, at least they provide some fresh pictures to the planets.**

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

Two aliens entered a hotel room and put their belongings down.

"Hey Mo-Ki."

"Hey Uk-Ma."

The two insectoid aliens bowed to each other as they greeted. They were the Naggia, a species of long-necked, hexapedal insects from a desert-like world Called Hyumar. They thrived under the searing deserts and the arid highlands of their homeworld, but occassionally ventured out to ore-veined cliffs and mountains to mine, as well as the aboundant oases dotting their homeworld to gather food.

Unusually for desert-dweling creatures, the Naggia put heavy emphasis on searching for dry garden planets with multiple big rivers and tropical archipelagos. Makes for good agriculture and resort districts, they said. And for cute animal zoos too, they said.

Right now, Mo-Ki and Uk-Ma were visiting a vacation resort on a relatively new colony. They wanted to be the first ones to put down a mark before the sparsely populated colony became a resort planet filled with skyscrapers and slums.

"I assume the travel was easy, Ki?" asked Uk-Ma.

"Bah, I don't even want to think about it," Mo-Ki briskly said. " One, the spaceship was stupidly crowded even in the business-class deck. Two, the travel agency made me pay 20 percent more for the flight cost just because I carry one extra handbag. JUST ONE!" he raised his voice somewhat higher.

"Now, now, I'm sure it can't be that bad?" Uk-Ma winced a little.

"It was going to be very bad, you know!" Mo-Ki continued, "Three, the security guy in the spaceport asked me to remove my veil because it made me look like some random criminal that I don't even know about. But the other passengers were not asked to remove their head coverings, at all! Apparently, that security personnel didn't see them as suspicious as the veil-wearing me... Bah!"

Ah yes, the Naggia in question must be a politically inclined person, Mo-Ki concluded as the two aliens exited their hotel room with their handbags, out and away to a nearby beach covered in tall tropical trees.

It's nice to know that the new colony was constructed on a savannah planet, which meant they had access to green hills, bountiful fields, and charming tropical islands. They chose the third one, obviously.

So, the idea of this joint vacation was that Mo-Ki and Uk-Ma were going to plant a special bonsai-like decorative plant as a sign of starting their lives anew. But they wanted to plant it somewhere special. Not in a dull office room, but certainly not in a random open space. Give the bonsai a chance to grow and propagate naturally, Uk-Ma said.

A big tropical island on the new colony world might be the best place to do it.

Uk-Ma jokingly bet his money that future tourists would want to bring their own bonsai plants and put them here too, following the two aliens as an example, thus setting a trend that could last for decades. Mo-Ki disagreed, as tourists would most likely litter the beach with garbage, causing too much pollution eventually, therefore making Uk-Ma lose his money.

"Alright. I think this is the best place." Mo-Ki apporached a green spot between two rocks. A patch of grass could be seen growing unhindered by the heat or the salty water. "You want to plant it down here?"

"Let's do it."

The two insects worked diligently for the next one hour and a half, delicately placing the bonsai down in a hole they dug in the grass patch.

At last, the plant was put into its new home. "Nice work, pal! What name do you suggest we gave to it?"

"How about Na'va-Ri?"

Uk-Ma shook his head, "Not a very good name, you know. 'Va-Ri' means you are giving a hopeful farewell, but putting 'Na' at the front means you don't want to see it again. Try another name."

"Okay. How about Goma'ya-Ri?"

"Also a rather bad name," Uk-Ma disagreed with a pointed look. "saying 'Ya-Ri' means you want to go back here after going away, but then you add 'Goma', and it basically means you hope somebody else look after them after we leave it!"

"Damn it." Mo-Ki simply said. Believe it or not, this whole debacle could've been solved by giving the bonsai a short but meaningful name. But of course, Mo-Ki wanted an impressive name for the first bonsai ever on the colony. Uk-Ma understandably called him out on this after seemingly another hour of trying to name the plant with something great, only for Uk-Ma to rebuff the suggestions.

In the end, Mo-Ki decided to settle the argument by naming the plant 'First Bonsai', much to Uk-Ma's amusement.

"That's it! This way, we can always go back here nad try better naming conventions instead of fighting like idiots."

"You got that right."

Satisfied, the two aliens packed up their tools and left, planning to go sightseeing the island for the next day.

Little did they know that a short avian creature just landed on top of the bonsai as soon as they disappeared and started making a nest on it. Uk-Ma probably won't like it, but at least he was contributing something to the planet.


End file.
